Friday, April 2, 2010

2010 Large Burn Review

So far, I’ve taken the boat down the Tellico Ledges @ 1.7 , Little (Metcalf to Y) @ 2.7, Linville from Cabin to Conley @ 2.0, and Upper West Prong @1.55. My most recent frequent creek boat was a gus with significant time in a Jefe, Everest, and a little time in and old L burn. I'm 6' with super long legs and weigh in at 180ish. The boat is about the perfect size for me, although I had to add a little foam to the seat to deal with the high cockpit / short torso combination.I don’t think I would want to paddle the large if I weighed much less, but you could certainly be quite a bit heavier and I’m sure it would perform well.I would say it definitely felt bigger than the old L burn while still feeling substantially smaller than the Everest.

Curtis Elwood boofing in the 2010 Burn L on the Tellico. Photo: JJ

At first, I had some serious trouble adjusting to the boat. I was used to the tracking of the gus, which meant a small correction stroke in the gus was resulting in a huge turn in the burn. However, by the end of the first day, I had adjusted to the snappy feeling and was making super tight moves with relatively little effort. I think this is probably the snappiest creek boat I've paddled. Just super reactive to slight edging and small strokes. I'm excited to get more and more used to it.

As far as speed, I would say it is slower than the everest or the gus, but significantly faster than the Jefe.

Even though Linville was pretty low, there were a few good holes to plug out there. It punched them extremely well and resurfaced in great control.I think the smooth and in control resurfacing of the boat is one its greatest features.

Getting back right at Wheelie to avoid the pocket hole. Photo: Tony Robinson.

As for boofing, I thought it was great. It's gonna take some getting used to for me, as I'm not a good rock boofer, and that's a lot of what we have in the SE, so adjusting to the planing hull on the rocks will take a little effort, mainly in being aggressive with the edgeswitching. Water boofing was great, and the plane out upon landing was super smooth (not the mush of the kick rocker of the Jefe).One thing about the plane out is that if you’re running super continuous water (like UWP), you’ll be getting to the next drop faster than expected, but that’s just something I need to get used to.

I can’t say much about rolling, other than the one time I’ve flipped in it so far, I rolled back up in a rowdy and crucial section of the West Prong.

I think my only complaints hinge around the outfitting.The hip pads will not allow someone with skinny hips, such as me, to add enough padding to get tight in the boat, so some customization was necessary there.Also, I had to do make some minor changes to the seat and thigh hooks to increase stiffness, but I’m one of those people who really likes to feel locked in, so I would guess most people won’t need to do anything in those regards.

So far, I’m loving the boat and can’t wait to get more and more familiar with it.